Rapist, Victim Shout Out At Sentencing

May 26, 1995|by GAY ELWELL, The Morning Call

A 39-year-old Plainfield Township man was sentenced yesterday to 20 to 64 years in state prison for an eight-year sexual relationship with a young girl.

Northampton County Judge Jack A. Panella's 2-1/2-hour sentencing of Michael Weber was marked by Weber's adamant insistence that he had not committed the crimes of which a jury convicted him last month, and his victim's shouted charge that he is a liar.

The jury deliberated about five hours before finding him guilty of five counts of rape, two counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and a count of statutory rape. Panella hadconsolidated that group of charges from more than 300 counts filed by Plainfield Township Patrolman George Achenbach.

The victim, now 20, read Panella a statement in which she said she considered May 11 -- the date of the guilty verdict and Weber's entry to prison -- her new date of birth. Her comments, directed to Weber, called him "an evil man with no remorse for what you have done to me." She also said "I hope you forever burn in hell" and had "hope for your salvation."

She returned to her seat in the courtroom, where she occasionally traded whispers with a victim advocate, while 10 witnesses, including Weber's parents, wife, son, psychiatrist, pastor, employers and neighbors testified in his support.

Some of them, including Weber's wife, Betty, blamed the victim and said she had made up the allegations against him. But Panella noted that the testimony Mrs. Weber gave at trial about her husband's violent 1989 suicide attempt directly contradicted not only the victim's testimony about the incident, but also her own account to police at the time. As a result, he said that although he found her sincere in saying she needs her husband, he otherwise could give no weight to her comments.

Weber, wearing green prison clothes, handcuffs belted to his waist and leg irons, then spoke in his own behalf.

In a clear, carrying voice, he painted himself as the victim of a lying, manipulative, and vindictive girl who concocted a tale of more than a decade of sexual abuse for her own purposes. Weber, who worked as a machinist, said the girl passed up earlier opportunities to report the supposed abuse, waiting until 1993 because "she's a brat and wanted her own way."

When he pinpointed a segment of the girl's testimony that he said was a lie, she rose from her seat and screamed, "That's a lie!" As she continued her comments, Deputy Sheriff Joseph Zubia grabbed her arm and hustled her from the courtroom, to which she did not return.

Weber said to the judge, "Can I make my statement without being interrupted?"

He said he kept his anger at the situation in check during the trial and remained calm on the advice of his attorney, Mark Sigmon. He said Sigmon told him that whatever his behavior in the courtroom, Assistant District Attorney Victoria A. Coyle would use it against him.

He told Panella he understood his appeal rights, and "I will fight this for the rest of my life.

"I'm gonna tell you right now, judge, man to man, I did not do this."

As deputies led him from the courtroom through the door by Panella's bench, Weber turned to his family and quietly called out, "Love you."